Book One: Water: The Avatar Returns
by thatlittlebluehouse
Summary: Book One: Water: The Avatar Returns
1. 2-1 Katara

BOOK ONE: WATER

THE AVATAR RETURNS

We ran and walked and ran some more. The penguins had taken us pretty far. The trip back was not filled with the laughter of the first trip. In fact it was pretty quiet except for the crunching of new snow as we stepped. Aang was in a state of shock and confusion about his people and the war, and embarrassment and anger from setting off the trap. Had it been my nutbrained brother who had tripped a booby trap wire I probably would have said 'I told you so'. But with Aang that didn't feel right, so I stayed quiet.

I was deep in emotionally driven thought as well. Sokka already didn't like Aang. I didn't know why, but he made it abundantly clear to me and to Aang. He would never let me hear the end of this. I was building up exactly what I was going to say when we got there. Then another thought crossed my mind. Gran Gran didn't like Aang either. She was worried he was somehow dangerous. What we did _was_ dangerous, but Aang wasn't dangerous. How was I going to face them? How was I going to face the tribe? What would my father say about my poor choice?

When I saw the village walls ahead of us, I could see everyone had gathered together. They were waiting for me but they were doing something else too. They were looking up. I turned and realized that the flare we sent up had gone very high up and hadn't yet come down. I hadn't doubted that the whole town saw the light, but now I knew for sure. It must have been quite a sight to see the flare shoo into the sky and to see me walking just beneath it to get back to town. With every step closer the people came into view. Sokka stood front and center, a scowl across his face and a spear in his hand.

Several of the children ran to us when they saw us. The little ones had no idea of the danger I may have put us in. They had no idea that the idea of an outsider was a bad thing. They just knew that Aang made them have so much fun. Aang made them laugh and giggle until their bellies hurt. They hit him with the force of children as they hugged him. Not strong enough to do any damage, but much harder than he was expecting.

Sokka wasn't the only one wearing a scowl in the crowd. Everyone older than eight looked exactly the way I thought they might. Angry. Scared. There was Gran Gran, right next to Sokka.

"I knew it!" Sokka yelled when we were close enough to hear. He stepped forward in a surprisingly confident gesture of protection. I stood my ground ready to yell back. I still hadn't come up with what I was going to say, but the time had come. "You signaled the Fire Nation Navy with that flare. You are leading them right to us, aren't you?" he jutted his finger at Aang who had quickly and gently settled the children. We came to a stop in front of the people outside of the village walls. Some of the people ushered their children closer to them when they heard Sokka say that the Fire Nation forces were being led directly to where we were.

"Aang didn't do anything." I said to Sokka, but also to the whole tribe before Sokka had even finished his accusation. "I was an accident."

"Yea." Aang agreed. "It was an accident. We were on the ship and there were bobby traps and well we… we boobied right into it." Aang had a gentle and almost naive way of explaining things. As though the Air Nomads didn't get in trouble as long as they told the truth. He scratched his head out of what I guessed was insecurity. The faces he was being faced with at the admission of us 'boobying right into a trap' weren't ones he was used to.

Gran Gran's face changed from being disappointed to actually mad. I don't think I've ever seen her that way. It hurt to look at her. To know I was responsible for making her feel so unwell that she would face me with such an expression.

"Katara! You shouldn't have gone on that ship. Now we could all be in danger!" her tone was as harsh and cold as our icy tundra home. I was left speechless for a moment.

"Don't blame Katara!" Aang's eyes widened. He held up his hands in protest. "I brought her there. It's my fault."

"Ah ha!" Sokka jabbed his finger at Aang again. "The traitor confesses! Warriors! Away from the enemy." Sokka's order was followed by the children around Aang and I, but with some reluctance. "The foreigner is banished from our village."

"Sokka you are making a mistake!" I started, balling my fists.

"No. I'm keeping my promise to dad. I'm protecting you from threats like him." I wasn't feeling very protected right then.

"Aang is not our enemy!" I yelled. "Don't you see? Aang's brought us something we haven't had in a long time. Fun." It wasn't one of the thoughts I had while walking back to the village but it was true. When was the last time any of us had laughed and played and enjoyed? Dad left us to fight a war when were we children. We had to grow up quick to survive and carry on to ensure that others survived. Aang reminded me that I was still a kid. Even it it were the truth, that wasn't at all the thing to say to make my tribe feel any better faced with a real and serious danger.

"Fun? We can't fight Firebenders with fun!" Sokka was loud enough to start scaring the children. They clutched to their caretakers and hid behind their legs.

"You should try it sometime." Aang said mater of factly. That was Sokka's last straw. I don't think Aang meant it as an insult, but that was how it was being taken.

"Get out of our village!" Sokka screamed. "Now!"

I could see that our aurguemnt wasn't a strong against the scared, oppressed people of my tribe.

"Gran Gran, please don't let Sokka do this." I was pleading. I didn't raise my voice, I didn't demand it. I just asked.

"Katara," Gran Gran heaved a sigh. "you knew going on that ship was forbidden. Sokka is right. I think it best if the Airbender leaves."

Tears and anger welled up inside me.

"Fine!" I screamed. "Then I'm banished too! Come on Aang." I whirred around and grabbed Aangs arm pulling him along with me towards Appa, who had mossed slowly over from where Sokka's newly build watch tower was.

"Where do you think you're going?" Sokka asked me in a jeering way only a big brother could.

"To find a Waterbender. Aang is taking me to the North Pole." I called behind me without turning around.

"I am?" Aang asked, almost to himself. "That's great but..."

"Katara!" I stopped in the snow. "You're really going to choose him? Over your Tribe? Over your own family?" Sokka's voice faltered now. From harsh and confident to disbelieving and worried.

Aang stepped closer to me.

"Katara. I don't want to come between you and your family." He sounded genuine, and sad. He spoke quietly enough that our words were private. The air was so cold the tears in my eyes began to sting. I fought to hold them from running down my face. Aang touched my back in a friendly and caring gesture. Then he walked to Aapa and propelled himself into the air to land easily on his head by the reigns.

"So..." I began, choked up. "You're leaving the South Pole? This is good bye?" I sighed. I was feeling defeated. I was loosing a friend, I was in big touble with my tribe and my family, and I was still n outcast who couldn't control her own force of nature. All the non-benders of my tribe just didn't get it. Waterbending was a part of me. A part of my soul, and my chance of ever filling just one of the empty holes in my heart was walking away forever.

"Thanks for penguin sledding with me." Aang said as his agreement that this would in fact be goodbye. I couldn't blame him. The people of my tribe did not welcome him here. Who would want to stay someplace that won't have you?

"Where will you go?"

"I guess I'll go back home and look for the Airbenders." he told me thoughtfully. He tried to lighten the mood by cracking a joke. "Wow! I haven't cleaned my room in a hundred years! Not looking forward to that." I smiled the smallest smile I've ever made, which was the biggest one I could manage right then. He looked behind me to the crowd of people. "It was nice meeting everyone!" he called to them with a true smile on his face. how could he be so forgiving of the people who were condemning him? I was glad for it though.

"Let's see your bison fly now, air boy." Sokka responded.

"Come on Appa. You can do it! YipYip!"Aang encouraged his bison, but again nothing happened. Sokka adding insult to injury. I didn't think I would ever forgive him for this.

"Yea." Sokka scoffed. "I thought so."

Nukka, one of the youngest of the children, only six years old, broke away from her older sister to run towards Aang. I caught her in my arms to keep her from climbing the bison and starting chaos. "Aang! Don't go!" she begged him tears in he eyes. "I'll miss you." she old him. Aang looked at her.

"I'll miss you too." he told her, but half way through saying it he turned his gaze and locked eyes with me. I melted. All of my emotions came to a head. Aang reigned Appa to start walking. "Come on, boy."

Nukka walked away after staring after Aang and Appa for a moment with me. She was crying. I felt a hand brush my shoulder. I hadn't turned around yet to face the people of my tribe. I heard my Gran Gran's voice soft and soothing, as it was usually.

"Katara, you'll feel better aft..."

I whipped around to face her. "Are you happy now? There goes my one chance at becoming a Waterbender." I stalked off before I could say all the other things that were swimming in my head.

I passed Sokka gathering the children to 'ready our defenses' whatever that even meant. I moved to quickly to hear what he might have to say to me, but he was too mad at me to say anything anyways.


	2. 2-2 Aang

I sat in a hollow spot in a large mass of ice that had been naturally shaped by the wind and water. Appa laid on his back curled up tight to himself. He was looking up at me with those big brown eyes.

"Mwugh!" he rumbled at me affectionately.

"Yea." I told him, "I liked her too." I was pretty upset. First the monks tell me about my destiny. Then I wake up a hundred years after Appa and I crash into the ocean. And now I messed up a friendship that could have been great. Worse than that I messed up her life. She's in so much trouble because of me.

I heave a sign and look across the landscape. White snow and ice glistens and sparkles on hills and in valleys. The water at the edge of the snow to my right was as dark as night. The sun sat high in the sky and in some well light areas where the light reflected over and over, steam rose from the ice on the ground. I followed the steam and twirled my fingers lazily to watch the air catch the steam and make it dance. Through the steam I saw something alarming.

A ship. It was heading to where I had just come from. Katara's village. I slid down from the ice recess and ran towards where I had just been.

"Appa, wait here."


	3. 2-3 Sokka

I had been thinking to myself all day. I was mixed with anger and fright and anticipation. I had known as soon as I laid eyes on that kid, on the iceberg that he was trouble. He's not like us. _Why cant Katara see it? He is a danger to our people. The people that dad told us to protect. Told me to protect._ I had sworn to my father when he left to lead our tribe in the war that I would take care of all the people left in our village.

It'd been six years.

Even though the likelihood of any Fire Nation patrols being in the area was low, that flare was still a danger to us. The village went back life as normal, although everyone was on edge. I choose to take to the wall and do a patrol.

I pulled on my gloves and boots. I painted my face in black and grey oils to reflect the glare of the sun from the white snow. My father had taught me that. I still remember every stroke he taught me. He called it the Wolf because the pattern he drew on his face resembled the mask of a wolf. I pulled my hair back and tied it tight to stay out of my face.

I left the tent and walked to the snow and ice wall surrounding our village. We had hoped that the flare would go unnoticed, but it hadn't. I scanned the horizon. I couldn't see Aang and his snot monster anymore. Good riddance. But suddenly in the midst of the steam rising from the summer heated snow, I saw a ship.

Fear crippled me. Until that moment all the preparations had been drills. Practice for the real thing I'd hoped would never come, yet there it was just moments away in the water. The ship was head right to us.

_This is what I've been preparing for._

_This is my moment to make my father proud._

_My tribe proud._

I went through a hundred thoughts to try to get ready for the battle to ensue. Then I heard the collection of gasps from behind me. The sound hardened me and I stood my ground even as the ships bow hit the layer of ice that created the land we lived on and the ground began to shake and parts of the wall and tower began to crumple and the gasps turned into panicked shrieks.

"Oh man..." I heard myself say aloud.

I held my club above my head and the ship grew larger with every passing second. Suddenly the shaking ground began to crack and the ship was slicing through ice plowing straight for us.

"Sokka! Get out of the way!" I heard Katara scream to me from the ground. She must have been helping people to get into their huts and tents because I didn't hear the screams of anyone else anymore. Although looking back that could have been because the sound of metal scraping against the ice and shattering it into powder was the only sound I could hear. The ship hit my wall and came to a rumbling halt. The snow and ice of the wall crumbled beneath my feet and to my luck and surprise I slid backwards in the pile of frost.

The ship let out a hot hiss of steam and the air was silent for a moment. This ship was unlike the one Katara and Aang were on earlier in the day. That ship was a larger and better engineered. It was newer. The forward end of the ship didn't stop at the deck. It rose higher and higher and came to a sharp point as high as the tower in the back of the vessel.

I heard a loud grinding metal on metal sound and the point of the bow seemed to be falling. Towards me.

I didn't hold my ground very well that time. I stumbled backwards and fell flat on my back, sinking into the snow. My attempt to get out of the way of the sharpened point becoming the ramp of the ship was successful, but just barely.

Those who hadn't made it into their huts were frozen in shock behind me. I heard another breathy gasp as the Fire Nation crew made there appearance on the ramp leading to where I had just been standing.

The first person I saw was a tall and lean and very pale boy, not much older than me. He wasn't wearing the armor I had remembered other Fire Nation soldiers wearing when they last came to our village. He armor was gilded and decorated. This guy wasn't just a soldier. His metalic red, black, and gold helm had three spikes pointing up reminiscent of the licks of flame on the Fire Nation Flag. The armor looked heavy and burdensome, but the young man didn't let on that it bothered him. I was wearing woven cloth and animal leather. As he approached four men flanked him wearing similar armor, but less ornate than that of the boy in the front. His face was well covered, but I could see that one of his eyes had been severely burned.

I don't know what came over me. I panicked. I had to protect my family. My tribe. I had to live up to the promise I made to my father when I was nine years old.

"Ahh!" I stood up and charged the one at the front, waving my club above my head.

To my great embarrassment, and looking back now, to my relief, the gilded soldier swiftly blocked my attack with his leg and then used it to throw me to one side, then he continued to walk down the ramp. I fell a short distance from the incline into the snow that had once been the wall around the village.

He drew to the end of the ramp and stopped looking at the women and children who had not gotten safely to their homes. Katara and Gran Gran were among them.


	4. 2-4 Katara

I had been feeling terrible from earlier in the day already. Then the Fire Nation actually came. I felt sick to my stomach as I tried to get all the children and people into their homes. I rushed them into tents that weren't theirs. I grabbed one child from being swallowed into the freezing ocean as the huge black boat cracked the ice bellow our feet. I had never been so scared in my entire life. Sokka stood on the wall as it fell and almost got squished by the pointed ramp that dropped from the front of the ship. I thought I might never breathe again for how long I held my breath. Just when I thought he couldn't be any stupider or any braver he rushed at the men coming down to village where we stood. I screamed out loud when the soldier in front knocked him with grace and ease to the ground and just kept moving. At least he was unharmed.

_Maybe the brutes aren't here to do what they did last time._ I thought. It was too hard to think thoughts like that. I pushed it from my mind.

The soldier who threw my brother down was clearly the leader. His armor was clean and lavish. When he got close to me and the others who hadn't made it inside in time I saw that his face was young and disfigured in anger and in scars from a fight he must have won. I don't know how anyone willing to burn the face of a person hardly older than myself didn't finish the job, unless this soldier had gained the upper hand and won that battle. He stopped once he reached the snow. he scanned our faces and thought for a few moments. Finally he spoke.

"Where are you hiding him?" he asked in a low voice, almost to himself.

No one answered.

He was stopped right in front of me now. He then abruptly reached out his arm grabbing hold of my Gran Gran by her collar! She had been standing right next to me, holding my hands in hers. How could I have let him take her? My shriek of fear was nearly debilitating. I attempted to reach out and take her back from the soldier, but her look, although filled with fear, was very clear.

_Don't._

I retracted my hand and glared at the soldier.

"He'd be about this age." He shoved Gran Gran in a gesture to display his point. "Master of all elements." He voice was raising now he was loosing his cool. That was an understatement. The snow around his feet began to melt. This Fire Nation soldier was clearly in touch with the element of his nation.

No sooner had I made the connection did he show us all exactly how in touch he was. When no one gave him whatever, whoever he was looking for he pushed my Gran Gran so hard that she feel into my arms. In the same motion with his arm thrust out he swung it across from shoulder to shoulder. With a deep sounding cry, a ribbon of orange and yellow flames came flying at the people. We ducked and gasped and felt the heat on our skin. The flame never touched us but the show did what it was meant to. It scared us.

"I know you're hiding him!" the boy soldier shouted.

Unexpectedly Sokka appeared behind him. He grabbed his club again and was running at the soldier. His wolf mask that dad taught him to apply had washed off from being pushed into the snow. His face was wild and filthy with streaks of black and gray oil against his brown skin.

I have to say my brother was brave for trying but how could he think might better a trained warrior?

The soldier moved with such agility. Sokka swung the club at his head and missed when the boy did nothing more than crouch. Sokka had lept into the air to hit him as hard as he could, but instead sailed right over him and landed at my feet. Sokka rolled to avoid the jet of flame that followed him and flung his boomerang towards the soldier. He narrowly missed, taking even the young Fire Nation man by surprise. He hopped up and took a spear one of the children offered to him. It was leaning against the support of the tent we were all huddled around.

"Show no fear!" he whispered to Sokka as he tossed it to him. Sokka was always telling the boys, his warriors to 'show no fear'.

Sokka caught the spear and was on his feet, rushing at the Fire Nation boy again.

This time, the soldier looked almost exasperated. He dug his feet into the ground to hold still and as the spear got closer to him he used his powerful arms to break the brittle bone spear into pieces. He grabbed the last piece before it feel and rammed Sokka in the forehead with the butt end. Sokka fell back. holding his head. Just as the soldier dropped the end of the spear I saw a glint in the sky.

The boomerang! It was hurdling back through the air and whether by skill or dumb luck, Sooka threw it so it came right back whacking the boy in the back of the head so hard he lurched forward and his helmet spun on his head. The boomerang feel at Sokka's feet and we could feel the heat radiation off the soldier as fire spat from his fists by his side.


	5. 2-5 Aang

As I was gliding towards the village I saw a penguin sliding along in the same direction. It occurred to me that the penguin would be faster than gliding so I landed on its back. I won't say the penguin was exactly thrilled to be employed as a sled, but it got me to where I needed to go.

The ship had already reached the shore and broke through the ice driving right into the wall that surrounded the tents and huts. As we gained speed on a downward slope just outside the village, I could make out five men in red and black armor. I leaned to the left as we neared the small incline that had once been Sokka's watchtower. The slight flex of my shoulders to one direction lined us up perfectly to run into the middle soldier, who looked as though flames were shooting from his hands.

The penguin and I hit his legs, causing his feet to raise off the ground and his face to land in the snow. His helmet had come loose and was sent flying through the air before coming back down to land on him.

The penguin skidded to a stop before we hit the wall of people. He bucked me off his back and waddled away before he was caught again.

I was left sitting in the snow between the Fire Nation Soldier I just knocked down and the group of people from Katara's tribe.

"Hi Katara! Hey Sokka!" Sokka didn't look happy to see me. I got to my feet and turned to see the man who landed on his face. He was surrounded by four men and two more were walking towards them from the ship. When the one in the middle stood up I saw that he was not a man at all. He was a teenager. Maybe Sokka's age. His face, although contorted in rage and scared in a large portion by a burn, was youthful. He had a long length of straight, black hair tied tight at the very peak of his head. The rest was shaven leaving his head bare like mine.

I pushed the top of my glider out slightly, then thrust the bottom up and out causing the air around me out and at the soldiers.

"Looking for me?" I asked as the flurry of snow I'd kidded up with the air settled on the boys hands which he held out in front of him balled in fists like we were going to have a fight, hand to hand.

"You're the Airbender?" he sounded astonished. Maybe I wasn't the one he was looking for after all? No such luck though, his men had fanned out around me holding spears and swards and fists out. "You're the Avatar?"

A quiet but collective gasp could be heard from behind me.

I heard Sokka say "No way." his voice was disbelieving.

"Aang?" Katara added. Her voice sounded hurt. I had lied to her when she asked me about the Avatar when we met.

The boy with the top knot smiled to himself and began to circle me; arms up in a defensive gesture.

"I have spent _years_ preparing for this encounter." he began, almost laughing. We were both moving in a circular motion around each other. I held my staff out in front of my body ready to bend if that was what it came to. "Training. Meditating. You're just a child!" his voice was old and deep and harsh. How could he be so angry and hateful. That had not been something I'd ever experienced before. So much had changed while I was away.

"You're just a teenager." I noted aloud, half to myself as I tried to wrap my mind around what was happening, and half to him in protest. It clearly was taken as a challenge.

He turned his forward arm with such grace and strength. He left a trail of flames following the path his hand took as he spun in around. Using his other hand, he punched the flame with force and sent it blasting at me.

I reacted quickly spinning my staff to create a wall of air which swallowed the fire and kept me from burning. He shot more, but I was able to deflect them.

Squeals and shrieks cried out behind me. It was me they wanted. Not Katara's tribe. I had to leave with them or everyone would be in danger. It was the most peaceful solution.

"Wait! If I o with you, will you promise to leave everyone alone?"

He stayed still and quiet for a moment, but finally he nodded and I felt two huge hands on my arms. I was being taken to the ship.

I could hear the crunching of feet behind me, I turned to see Katara.

"No Aang! Don't do this!" she pleaded me.

"Don't worry Katara, it will be okay." I flashed her a smile to reassure her, but neither she nor I felt reassured. I thought I could hear her sobs before the gears of the ship closing. "Take care of Appa for me until I get back!" I called to her.

"Head a course to the Fire Nation! I'm going home." the boy with the top knot called aggressively to whoever was listening. A young solider standing in the hall rushed away as soon as the order was given.


	6. 2-6 Sokka

We were devastated, but we were luck that the damage was not worse. The ship cutting through the ice made tents fall down and left all of us with water front property. The ice and snow wall was a heap of snow and would take us days to put back together. All things that could be fixed. At least no one was hurt, taken, or killed. The guy who was calling all the shots had come for one thing only. Aang. And he got him. Aang gave himself up to save the well being of the people of our tribe.

I found my sister standing at the edge of the ice looking after the vessel, which had long since been gone. To say she was upset doesn't really describe it.

I had a plan. Katara had been right about this Aang kid, and I had no plans to admit it to her, but I had to set things right. For her, for me, and for him.

I spent the next morning gathering supplies. Clothes, bedding, food. I had packed our canoe we used to hunt full of everything we would need to live. I don't know exactly how or how long it would take but I wanted to give Katara the option to come with me. I was going after that ship and doing whatever I could to give Aang the best chance he could at getting out alive.

Katara was standing close by, watching the waters again.

"We have to go after that ship, Sokka!" she demanded of me when she heard me walking by. "Aang saved our tribe! Now we have to save him." It was a good thing we had the same idea, because this was obliviously not up for discussion with Katara.

"Katara I..." _agree_, was what I was going to say.

"Why can't you realize that he's on our side?" she was yelling now. "If we don't help him, Sokka, no one will."

"Katara..." I started again.

"I know you don't like Aang, but we owe him and..." I could hear her voice cracking and raising higher in pitch.

"Katara!" she whirled around to face me. The canoe was packed. "Are you going to talk all day, or are you coming with me?" I pointed out the boat floating in the water near wear I was standing. She gasped and ran at me and hugged me so tight I couldn't believe she was _my_ sister.

"Get in," I told her, "before Gran Gran sees us leaving. We're going to save your boyfriend." when she let go she pushed me hard in the chest.

"He's not my boyfriend!" Yep, she was my sister.

"Whatever." I said, shrugging my shoulders.

As if on que, Gran Gran was passing the clearing where we were standing and plotting to run away from. She spotted us and walked over.

"What do you two think you're doing?" she asked us. Katara's eyes were open as wide as my mouth. I was ready to tell her we were heading out on a fishing trip, but she was on to us. "You'll need these." she said after a short pause and a sign. She handed me bundle of blankets that I must have left out while getting things together. "You have a long journey ahead of you." she told us, tears in her eyes. We were both shocked. "It's been a long time," she continued, looking at the blankets she handed to Katara, "since I've had hope. You brought it back to life, my little Waterbender." she brushed Katara's cheek with her hand. "And you, my brave warrior," she turned to look at me leaving her hand on my sisters cheek. "You be nice to your sister!" Gran Gran had a smile that could warm even the coldest times. She brushed my cheek as well and gave us both hugs.

"Yea. Okay Gran." I rolled my eyes when she wasn't looking.

"Aang is the Avatar. He is the worlds only chance. You both found him for a reason." Gran explained. She was very spiritual and tried to find reason in everything that happened. "Now, your destinies are intertwined wit his."

"Sokka, there's no way we're going to catch a war ship with a canoe." Katara said. Well I already knew that, but what else were we going to use? It's not like we had our own war ship just laying around. "Appa!" she called to the beast who had been pacing the area outside the village since Aang was taken. He showed up before the ship sailed away, but after Aang had given himself up. The fluffy snot monster was distressed by his missing friend.

I heaved a sigh and mumbled to myself. "You just love taking me out of my comfort zone." With another heavy sigh, I grabbed what I could an dragged it over to where Appa was standing.


	7. 2-7 Aang

Although I had gone peacefully, the Fire Nation soldiers tied my hands behind my back and took my staff. The teenager who seemed to be in charge had me walked up to me on the deck once the ship was moving and I was bound. A soldier handed my glider staff to him.

"This staff will make an excellent gift for me father." He looked it over then back at me. "I suppose you would't know of fathers? Being raised by monks." his tone was jeering and cruel. Its true I didn't know my own biological parents, but that's not how all Air Nomad people were brought up. I had an excellent father, even if he wasn't related to me by blood. "Take the avatar to the prison hold. And take this to my quarters." He held my staff out to an old man standing beside him. The man took the glider and handed it off to the armored man next to him. I was steered away into a long passage below the ship.

I did't really care for closed in places much but the hallway was just what I needed at that moment. One man in front on me and one behind. I took a deep breath.

"So..." I began, "I guess you guys have never fought an Airbender before. I bet I could take you both with my hands tied behind my back!" I took another deep breath.

"Silence!" the guard in front said. Adults always do that. Never take kids seriously. Oh well, his loss.

We came to the very end of the hall where a door with many locks needed to be opened. I took another deep breath. The guard in front of me took out a ring of keys. He sorted through them, but he never got the locks open.

I inhaled so deeply that I had plenty of air to use. I blew as hard as I could. All the air shot out of my mouth with such force that the guard in front of me was pushed into the metal door and knocked out. The pressure escaping caused me to fly backwards and land on top of the guard behind me. We were pushed back a long ways when we finally fell. I landed hard on his chest, making him loose his breath.

I stood and ran as fast as I could down the hall we just came from. I found myself back on the deck of the ship running towards the door where a soldier had taken my glider. I blew the door in with the power I generated from my foot in a kick.

I needed to find a way out of the ropes and off of this ship. I'd need to find my staff and be on my way. I heard hurried footsteps and a mans voice call out loudly.

"The Avatar has escaped!"


	8. 2-8 Katara

"Go. Fly. Soar." Sokka had been sarcastically telling Appa to fly for our whole trip. He was swimming pretty fast, we were making excellent time, but flight would have been better.

Appa grunted and kept swimming, if Sokka was bothering him, he didn't seem to show it.

I sat on Appa's head by the reigns, Sokka was in the back where the huge saddle was. I leaned forward to talk to Appa. Sokka was being his usually crude self and kept saying word that mocked Appa.

"Come on Appa," I said to him. "We need your help. Aang needs your help."

"Up. Ascend. Elevate."

"Sokka doesn't believe you can fly, but I do, Appa! Come on, don't you want to save Aang?" I petted his fluffy fur on his head for as far as I could reach.

"What was it that kid said?" Sokka asked himself aloud. "Yee Haw? HupHup? Ya Hoo? Umm... YipYip?" Appa's massive tail splashed the water, his whole body began to quiver. Then like Appa jumped and just didn't come back down, we were in the air. Sokka lost his mind. "He's flying! He's flying! Katara, he's..." he was yelling excitedly. He saw my face and the 'I told you so' look I was giving him. He sat down. "I mean.. Big deal. He's flying." I rolled my eyes and commended my brother.

"You did it Sokka!" I called back to him. His head couldn't get any bigger, so I figured it was okay to tell him.


	9. 2-9 Aang

As I was running through the corridors of the ship. Looking for a place to hide. Looking for a way to get the ties off my wrists. Looking for a my staff. I controlled the air around me to lift my whole body and continue to run around soldiers I came across. I was finally lucky enough to catch my tied hands on a sharp helmet one of the men was wearing as I soared over his head.

My hands were free. Now I needed to find my staff. I continued to run and hide, until at last, I found the glider in a lavish room of the ship. Without a second thought I zipped into the room. No sooner was my hand on the staff did I hear the door close.

"Looks like I underestimated you." the voice was familiar. The boy with the top knot. I turned to see him readying himself to fight me. He'd positioned himself sideways and held up his hands. He was so fast. He swung his leg out and pushed flames from his hands. The heat streamed at me. I moved just in time. I was running out of energy. Runny out of breath. I had been running and outwitting the soldiers on the ship since I got on. He threw some balls of fire at me, and I managed to dodge them all. I had a brief moment of calm and knew my best bet was to stay out of the line of fire. I ducked again, tucking my body into a ball and rolled right between his legs. I hopped up and held my hands to his back. With every step he took, I followed exactly, staying behind him the whole time. this gave me a moment to catch my breath and think. That didn't last long though, he was moving faster and turning to get at me. I bent the air around us to put out the flames closest to me. Then I just needed to move. I swirled the air beneath my own body to make an air scooter. The other kids and I used to race with this technique. I folded my legs and brought my hands close to my chest.

The fight continued.

The boy tripped me with fire, the air of my scooter consuming it instead of turning in uniform to support me. I flung forward and hit the wall hard. A tapestry fell on me. When I got to my feet I grabbed the bar on the end of the cloth and used it to wrap around the boy with the scar. It caught fire around him and he was free in no time. My staff was once again in my hands and although I did not want to hurt him, I had to throw something heavy on him to keep him down. With a swift swipe of the staff, the heavy mattress slammed into the wall with the boy caught between the two. The mattress fell and he fell face first on top of it. I hot him with one more powerful gust, sending him up high enough to hit the ceiling. I heard a groan but didn't stay to find out what was coming next. I ran as fast as I could. I couldn't go back the way I'd come to get out of the inner part of the ship and back to the deck, it would be crawling with Firebenders.

I climbed a ladder near by which lead to the control tower a man dressed in a captains uniform stood by a huge bay of windows in the room with levers and maps everywhere I looked.

At the very far end of the room in the center of the windows was a n opening to a balcony. I took my chance before the captain noticed me. I ran at full speed straight for the doorway. As soon as I felt the cold southern air touch my face, I felt the sigh of relief escape my lips. With a flick of my wrist, the glider was open and I leapt from the tower.

I was free! The only thought in my mind now was to get back to Katara, and make sure the village was okay.


	10. 2-10 Zuko

My head was throbbing. That child had gotten the better of me. Even as the Avatar, how could I let a child best me. I had trained countless hours. I had poured my own blood sweet and tears into this mission. _He is not getting away!_ I told myself. I rolled off the mattress the Avatar had left me on. I felt almost surprised to see that the ceiling was not dented where my body was slammed into it like a child's doll flung across the room.

From a crawl to a stumble to a quickening trot down the corridor from my quarters, I was able to follow the Avatar fast enough to see him climbing the ladder to the bridge and captains quarters. I pushed past the pain and broke into a run down the hall after him. I took the rungs two at a time and saw him running towards the balcony just outside the navigational room. He was going to jump! I pounded the floor with all my might as each foot made contact. Running fast than I ever remember running. I made it to the exact place where he had just taken off in a leap with the staff he found in my quarters. It opened revealing a huge orange sail and when he held the staff above his head he looked like a bird with outstretched wings. I did not hesitate I leapt as he had, but I did not have a tool to hold and help me fly. I did not have the ability to bend air. I caught his foot. We began to fall together to the deck below us, spinning as his kite tried to stay aloft.

We crashed in a heap of arms and legs and groans on the cold metal deck. We managed to stand and take point. I did not want to kill this child but taking him alive was proving to be more difficult than I had been expecting. He held his staff out, which he clearly used as a tool to project his ability. I took a deep breath, centered my front hand and began to feel the heat rise from the pit of my stomach.

I heard a snorting, grunting, growling sound from what seemed to be far away. The Avatar heard it too, he looked away from me to see what the sound was. Looking at him, I could the source of the sound just above his head. It was still some distance away but it was gaining with every second that past. It was moving as fast as the ship! No. It was even faster!

"What is that?" I asked myself. It had gotten close enough for me to see. It was an enormous flying animal. Covered in hay colored fur and horns as tall as a man on either side of its head. The fur had patterns of stripes and what looked like arrows all over the beasts body. I was holding something on its back. People. This animal was here for the Avatar.


	11. 2-11 Katara

Amazingly, the ship came into view. Appa had been flying so fast we caught up with them in no time. We were close enough now to see the ship and the crew working on it. I saw at one end of the deck, the red orange flashes of fire being bet and thrown. I looked more closely and saw the teenage Fire Nation solider who grabbed Gran Gran moving at lightening speed shooting blasts of fire at Aang. Aang kept the flames at bay using his staff to spin a vortex of air that swallowed and extinguished the flames. I heard Aang call out Appa's name. Appa must have heard it too. If I thought he was flying hard and fast before, I was wrong.

To my great horror, the Firebender sent a flame at him that caught him off guard. Aang lost his focus and his balance. In an attempt to keep the flames from searing his clothes and skin, he backed up so far he fell off the side of the boat.

The fall was silent. He hit the water far below the main deck of the ship and then I didn't see him.

Emotions ripped through me!

"Aang! No!" I screamed at the top of my voice.

The Firebernder ran to the side of the ship where Aang fell. He was searching for any sign of Aang to surface. He was barking orders to some men close by and people were running in every direction trying to complete the tasks he had assigned them.

My heart hurt. We didn't make it in time. I felt Appa pushing forwards to charge on the crew of the ship no matter what.

"Katara look!" my brother shook my shoulder and pointed to the water. It was starting to bubble. Something under the black glassy surface was emitting light. A bluish white light. The bubbles began to glow. Then the bubbles began to churn. A whirlpool formed and from the very center sprang Aang, glowing. He was Waterbending the water into the spout and using it as an extension of his body. The water spout was easily as tall as the ship and Aang looked fearsome wielding the power. This glowing form looked almost painful in a way.

Aang steered the water to land him on the ship once again and held its force in his arms. The spinning wall of water matched the movements of his hands as he pulled and pushed and water dowsed the crewmen. The power of the water was so strong in his final push that it sent several of the crew sloshing overboard in every direction into the liquid ice the ship had been floating on, including the Firebending boy with the scar on his eye.

Aang stood still for a moment in a pained or raged posture. I couldn't tell which. His face was contorted and he was still glowing. Then the glow faded and his body became loose. He started to wobble. Appa was going in to land now.

"Did you see what he just did?" I exclaimed to Sokka.

"_That,_" he said, "was some Waterbending."

Aang collapsed to the ground before we landed, but Sokka and I were already on our feet, ready to jump off Appa as soon as we had a chance. Finally, after what surely was only a few moments from when the ship first came into view, but felt like an eternity, we landed. I slid from Appa and ran to Aang's crumpled body in the puddle of ocean water.

"Aang!" I cried, "Are you okay?" I scooped his head into my lap as I reached him. He was alive. He was conscious.

"Hey Katara," he said without looking at me. He was still in a daze from whatever that glowing form was that took over hos body. It severely weakened him. "Hey Sokka. Thanks for coming."

"Well," said Sokka, "I couldn't let you have all the glory." Sokka told him, trying to make light of the situation.

"I dropped my staff." Aang said absently, looking in the direction where he thought it might be. Sure enough it was there. Sokka stood and padded over to it quickly. It was hanging partially out of the scupper.

I heard Sokka tell us "I got it!" then I heard a deep gasp. Sokka was shaking something off Aangs staff. It was the boy with the scar! He had climbed the anchor chain and grabbed hold of the staff as Sokka was taking it back. My broth pulled back the staff and shoved it forward again. He hitt the boy in the face and he fell again.

I did not hear the splash.

"That's from the Water Tribe!" Sokka yelled before running back to where Aang, Appa, and I were.

On the other side of the ship some of the men who had not fallen overboard were stirring and although they were dripping wet with freezing cold water, they seemed determined to attack us once more. I helped Aang into Appa's saddle where he laid back to catch his breath. Before I climbed into the saddle myself I stood in the puddle; I bent a small portion of it up with my hands. I flung my hands back with the intent of freezing the water on the men coming closer.

"Katara!" From behind me, I saw my brother standing in a solid block of ice. The water went in the opposite direction! How could I have been so stupid? The men were on their way now with spears and swards and getting closer every moment. I turned around with my back to the soldiers. I moved my hands the same way.

Success! I heard the splash of the water hitting the men. I heard the crinkle of the ice crystals forming. I heard the unpleasant sounds and words the three men made as their feet became frozen to the ships deck and their limbs heavy in ice. I turned to see them stopped in time. Arms lifted, ready to swing. They would take some time to thaw the ice, it was rather thick in some places. I wasted no time rushing back to Appa and climbing up the bison's fur into the saddle. Sokka was almost finished breaking up the ice around his feet with his boomerang to start moving.

"Hurry up, Sokka!" I called. He was rushing and hacking and grumbling the whole way.

"I'm just a guy with a boomerang!" He yelled at me once finally free and moving. "I didn't ask for all this flying and magic!" he was mostly talking to himself, so I didn't give a retort. Even if he wasn't talking to himself. I still think ignoring him was the best choice. He made it to Appa's tail and was climbing it yelling "YipYip! YipYip!"

Appa took off into the sky and away from the ship.


	12. 2-12 Iroh

I awoke to the banging sound of feet hitting the floor in fast succession. It sounded like the whole crew was running up and down the halls. After rolling over and failing o go back to sleep, I pulled on my rob to see what all the commotion was. By the time I'd made it to the door, the corridor behind it was empty. I walked the passage and took the stairs to the main deck. As I opened the door I found what was causing all the sound. I huge furry beast was landed on the deck the child Avatar was sitting on the creature along with two more children dressed in blue coats, traditional of the Water Tribes of the poles. I blinked my eyes at the sight of the animal lifting off the ship and flying away into the air.

_There goes the Avatar._ I thought to myself.

Finding my senses, I looked around to assess the damage. Soldiers were frozen solid in mid swing. One of the crew was radiating heat from his hands to melt the ice around their hands so they could free themselves. My nephew was climbing up the chain of the anchor, soaking wet. Men on the deck were drenched in ocean water. What had I missed?

I rushed to Zuko. I took hold of his arm and hoisted him up.

"Shoot them down!" he ordered to no one in particular. Upon realizing the lack of able bodied crew, I took my nephew by the arm and we acted in unison with a common, bet powerful, technique. We each spun in a separate direction, landing our bodies facing in toward the other, thrusting both of our palms forwards and up to create a blasting wall of flames.

The fire shot up in a pillar and was sailing at the animal which the Avatar was sitting in. Just as it came close I saw a child stand on the animal wave a stick, not unlike the staff the Avatar had been holding, and a blast of cold air hit us in the face. The air was intense enough to deflect our flames into an iceberg close by. The iceberg began to melt in buckets and crumble at the impact. a huge avalanche of snow and ice and freezing water poured onto ship, burying the bow and keeping us right were we sat.

Zuko fell to the ground in disbelief and anger. Two emotions he knew all too well for such a young man.

"Good news for the Fire Lord." I told him. "The Fire Nation's biggest threat is just a little kid."

"Uncle!" Zuko sounded exasperated, "That damn little kid just did all of this!" Zuko gestured to the damage. The frozen solid men of the crew and the mountain of snow and ice fallen on the ship. He didn't bother to point out his injuries, red and swollen with fresh blood pooling under the surface of his skin, soon to be black and blue. "I will not underestimate him again." he turned to the men thawing the frozen crew. "Dig the ship out and follow them!" he ordered. The Firebenders melting the ice gently from the others looked up at him, at each other, and at the men they were trying to help, clearly confused about what was more urgent. Follow our leaders voice to avoid being harmed, and in the process harm our crewmen? "After you're done with that." he growled with a roll of his eyes. He is not as harsh as others I have known. Zuko would not let those loyal men freeze to death in that ice.


	13. 2-13 Katara

"Aang!" I exclaimed, "How did you do that? With the water? That was amazing! It was the most amazing thing I've ever seen." We had caught our breath and the Fire Nation ship was finally out of our view. Aang seemed to be more alert, but he was solemn and quiet.

"I don't know." he admitted after a moment more of silence. "I just sort of did it." He didn't seem proud of the moment.

"Why didn't you tell us you were the Avatar?" I questioned.

"Because," i said, after another moment of thoughtful silence, "I never wanted to be." He didn't seem proud of that either. He looked away from us, staring out over the clouds. The clouds wear beautiful. I was in amazement by so many things. My mind was in overload of everything I'd seen and learned and done over the last few days. A dark shadow from a cloud above passed over. When we passed out from under it the sunlight shone on my face, warm. I snapped back to reality. The Avatar was here with us. So much would change now that he was back.

"But Aang," I began, "the world's been waiting for the Avatar to return and finally put an end to this war." I tried to be as gentle as possible. Aang was just a kid after all. Saving the world is a big responsibility; but he was still the Avatar. Saving the world in times of chaos and turmoil was his destiny. It had been his destiny in all his past lives, and it would continue to be his destiny in all his future incarnations.

After what I'd seen in the past few days, I knew deep down that he would save the world. I believed it.

"And how am I going to do that, Katara?" he asked me without moving to look in my direction.

"According to legend," I started thinking back to all the stories Gran Gran had shared with us over the years. "You need to first master water, then earth, then fire, right?"

"That's what the monks told me." he offered.

"Well, if we go o the North Pole, you can master Waterbending!" that seemed to perk him up.

"We could learn it together!"

"Sokka, I'm sure you'll get to knock a few Firebender heads along the way." I wanted my brother to come with us. Sure he was, at times, annoying, but he saw what Aang could do. No he was as much a part of it as I was. Just like Gran Gran said. Our destinies were intertwined.

"Yea. I'd like that." He said thoughtfully. Sokka had as much of a reason as anyone to hate the Fire Nation. After what they'd done to our family. "I'd really like that."

"Then we're in this together!" I said.

"Alright, but before I learn Waterbending, we have some serious business to attend to." Aang found a rolled up map in Appa's saddle and flattened it so we could all see it. "Here, here, and here." He pointed to several places on the map that didn't look as though they had any significance that we could see.

"What's there?" I asked him, pointing to the first spot on the map he'd shown us.

"Here," he said, "we'll ride the hopping llamas. Then way over here," he pointed to another place on the map, "we'll surf on the backs of giant koi fish. Then back here, we'll ride the hog monkeys. They don't like people riding them, but that's what makes it fun!"

I looked back at Sokka to see what he was thinking. As though I needed to. I was as confused and astonished, so there was no way he would be on board with all this. We looked at all the place Aang wanted to go and mapped out the best route to the North Pole, with stops on the way. It turns out we were able to make a plan that brought us closer to where Aang and I would master Waterbending, and stop to have some fun in the places where we rested.


End file.
